“I flip the pages again and begin at the beginning. My nose was filled with fumes from burnt powder. The words stoop before me and pass quickly through the gap between two piles of earth. Hoseyn crawls face first into the foxhole. I grab his arm and jerk him aside so we won’t be in the line of fire. There is a gash from his earlobe to the tip of his chin. His left eyelid flutters. Blood and mud seep from the wound along his jaw.”

Journey to Heading 270 Degrees is a novel about the Iran-Iraq War. It tells the story of Naser, a veteran of several battles though not yet out of high school. Unable to resist pull of communal soldiering, he returns to the front to find himself in the midst of one of the War’s decisive clashes. The Iraqis attack the Iranian fortified positions in tanks, while Naser’s unit repels them on foot. During the battle, Naser loses several comrades but gains an understanding of the futility of conflict.

This book is one of the most popular Persian novels about the Iran-Iraq War. More than fifteen thousand copies of it have been published in Iran. Many journals reviewed the novel favorably and it received several literary prizes, including the “Best Novel on the War Award” for 1996. The work came at a time when some Iranians were reevaluating the meaning of a conflict that dragged on for eight years killing, poisoning and maiming millions. Many have questioned the official position on the conflict, captured such phrases as “The Sacred Defense” (Defa’-ye Moqaddas) and “The Imposed War,” (Jang-e Tahmili). The novel speaks for the veterans who feel that propagandizing the War is a disservice to those who fought it.

Ahmad Dehqan

was born in Karaj, today a suburb of Tehran, in 1966. A veteran of the Iran-Iraq War, his undergraduate studies were in two fields: electrical engineering and communication sciences. Mr. Dehqan holds a Masters in Sociology. In addition to this novel, he is the author of more than ten works of fiction including: “Mission Complete,” “Moments of Urgency,” “The Final Days,” “The Stars of Shalamcheh” and “I am your Son’s Killer.” [A caricature illustration showing Mr. Dehqan on the left with Prof. Sprachman]